Information Warfare

Pro-Kremlin outlets try to manipulate the information landscape ahead of the German federal election with the usual deceptive stories such as ‘the country is collapsing’, ‘elites do not care’ and ‘just one party can prevent chaos and ruin’. Ahead of the German federal elections later this month, pro-Kremlin outlets employ the usual manipulative narratives including tropes like ‘Germany is facing economic and social ruin’, ‘Germans are desperate for change’ and ‘only parties that promise such change will do well’. The messaging is, as always, simple. Built around elements which would resonate with some people, but embellished with falsities and based on the same few key narratives the Kremlin has peddled for years: Elites vs People, Lost Sovereignty, Threatened Values, Imminent Collapse. Incidentally, the Kremlin’s information manipulation operation sought to employ much of the same playbook ahead of the European elections in June 2024.

The Russian state pays big money for the creation of ‘patriotic’ computer games which are intended to conquer the ‘hearts and minds’ by glorifying wars – from 17th century Russia, to 20th century fights with the US in Eastern Europe. Enter the world of IDI. A synthetic brainwasher created by the Kremlin, one of its latest tools in the quest to manipulate and control the thoughts of the next generation, where hard-core imperialist nationalism is disguised as ‘patriotism’. In October 2019, Vladimir Putin ordered the Russian government to choose a non-governmental organi-sation to serve as a ‘coordination centre for organising the production of internet content aimed at the spiritual and moral education of young people’.The government chose the Russian Internet Development Institute, or IDI (Институт развития Интернета). Russian state authorities fully control the IDI.

August has been a particularly busy and bloody month in Russia’s war, and not only on the battlefield. Sometimes people think of August as a quiet time of year. In the history of Russia, as well as of the Soviet Union, August has instead been a time of dramatic events. The attempted military coup in Moscow in 1991, the start of the Second Chechen war in 1999. Russia’s invasion of Georgia in 2008 (known as the war in South Ossetia). We recently recalled the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its far-reaching consequences. It was signed in August 1939 in Moscow. We could go on. This August has been dramatic in several ways, too. First – on the battlefield. The Kremlin ramped up the ferocity of Russia’s bombing campaign across Ukraine with drones, heavy glide bombs and cruise missiles.

Kremlin disinformation outlets pounce on the arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov to fake concern for freedom of speech. Ukraine’s advance into Kursk is still downplayed and swan songs about the Zapori-zhzhia nuclear power plant abound. While most people prefer to spend the sun-filled afternoons of late August making the most of their remaining vacation days, the Kremlin’s agents of disinformation are hard at work churning out narratives that befit their twisted worldview. It’s a tough job to lie with such audacity and so consistently. The Kremlin welcomes any opportunity to distract with ever-more bewildering claims, lest the audience consider any topic for too long and see that the emperor is, in fact, naked. This week was no exception. Pro-Kremlin disinformation peddlers zoomed in on the surprise arrest of Telegram founder Pavel Durov in France

Real-world scenarios in computer gaming push Russia’s expansionist agenda to a tech-savvy youth audience. As signatures dry on a new defence pact between Niger, Burkina Faso, and Mali, online gamers can play with these countries’ destinies in virtual reality. In July, a Russian gamer with associations to the Kremlin’s propaganda outlet Africa Initia-tive released the African Dawn game patch for the popular strategy game Hearts of Iron 4 (HOI4). The objective of the patch is the creation of an alliance of Sahel states online against the pressures of the Economic Community of West African States and Western powers. Playing as the leaders of the countries in the Sahel, players also fight local separatist and terrorist networks. If successful, the virtual country receives military and economic support from Russia. African Dawn sets out Russia’s agenda for Africa – to increase its influence and discredit Western partners.

23 August, the European Day of Remembrance, marks the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. 23 August is a special day for historic events in Europe. The European Day of Remembrance, also known as Black Ribbon Day, honours the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes. On 23 August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany concluded the so-called Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with its Secret Supplementary Protocol that carved up Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of control between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Days later, on 1 September 1939, the Second World War began in Europe. Persistent attempts, both in the USSR and in present-day Russia, have tried to deny the Pact’s Protocol. When forced to recognise its existence, the Kremlin diminishes or relativises its importance

Pro-Kremlin disinformation targets the Paris Olympics with baseless homophobic and anti-Semitic rhetoric to discredit the Games, accuse the West of moral decrepitude and portray Russia as a victim of Russophobia. The Olympics are a time of inspiration and joy for most people around the world. At the Kremlin, however, disinformation spreaders are grumpy. Their athletes could not bear the Russian flag because of Russia’s continuing aggression against Ukraine. So the Kremlin slanders the Paris games and everything about them. The Kremlin has also tried other ways to discredit the Paris games with disinformation narratives. The common denominator was to engage in unashamed mud-slinging. Pro-Kremlin TV host Vladimir Solovyov, for example, attacked the opening ceremony with homophobic slurs, calling the French leadership the ‘faggot movement’

Pro-Kremlin propagandists spoke much about their twisted interpretations of loyalty, patriotism, equal rights, and fair play to mask the complete lack of morals of the Putin regime. Eight Russian citizens convicted in Western countries for crimes including murder, money laundering, fraud, and cybercrime were exchanged for 16 arbitrarily imprisoned persons in Russian jails on 1 August. These included persons with Western passports who had been held hostage using invented charges, but also Russian citizens who had been persecuted for opposition to the Putin regime and protesting its invasion of Ukraine. At Vnukovo airport near Moscow, an enthusiastic Putin greeted returning criminals, spies, and a convicted murderer who were exchanged for hostages, journalists, opposition politicians, and human rights defenders.